Slow Cooker Pizza Soup

Even though we moved the clock forward for spring, it’s still so cold in the North East. In fact, they are forecasting more snow. They say we should be expecting 12-18+ in. of more snow. Looks like the Easter bunny might have to go skiing! To top off the crazy weather, one of my little ones is sick. I mean not holding anything down at all. The other 3 are healthy and I want to keep them that way. I decided to make a quick and simple soup to keep in the fridge. I want a soup that would go well with my Cauliflower Grilled Cheesethat I had stored in the freezer and could be popped into the oven. When everyone talks about grilled cheese (even though ours is non-dairy) they think about tomato soup. My kids are not big on plain tomato soup. So, I thought I would put together a gluten free, dairy free tomato soup that has the flavor of a pizza. You all are thinking that I am nuts in making a pizza soup. After all, the word “pizza” doesn’t really bring to mind clean eating but this is…trust me. Take a look at the ingredients, it’s just fresh tomato and dried herbs…plus our “cheese” flavor is the nutritional yeast. Here is another reason that this recipe is a gem, you can make it in the slow cooker! Yes, indeed…now lets get started!

Slow Cooker Pizza Soup Recipe

Ingredients

8 cups of organic tomato (chopped) I used the whole cherry tomatoes I had leftover from my bulk shopping.

5 tsp. of organic extra virgin olive oil

1 TBS of fresh garlic (You can do a rough chop since we are putting everything in the blender.

1 TBS of dried onion flakes

1 TBS of oregano

1 TBS of Italian spice

1 TBS of garlic powder

1 TBS of dried parsley

2 cups of organic vegetable broth

3 TBS of nutritional yeast

sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste

Directions:

Place all the ingredients EXCEPT the nutritional yeast in a blender.

Blend till all the ingredients are smooth.

Pour the blended mixture into the slow cooker and set on “high” for 5-6 hrs. OR “low” 6-8 hrs. On average, I usually make this soup on “high” for 6hrs. Cooking time will vary depending on the amount of liquid that comes

Hubby’s Favorite Topping

from your tomatoes. If the soup looks too thick at the start you may want to add an extra cup of broth OR if its too watery then cook it a little longer. That’s the nice thing about this soup, its easy to adjust to the consistency you want.

If, I am home, I like to go over to stir it every now and then. If you aren’t home, don’t stress over it.

Once the soup has the consistency you prefer, stir in the nutritional yeast, olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper. Give it a good stir and let it simmer for another 10-20 min.

Remember to give it another good stir before serving and then place your favorite “pizza” toppings. I personally love basil, so that is my go to. My hubby happens to love pepperoni, so I crisped up some nitrate free pepperoni in a skillet and topped his soup with it.

Remember: this recipe is naturally vegan, it becomes non-vegan when you top it with a non-vegan topping 🙂